Big things are coming to Camp North End. Hip Hop Smoothies just announced its upcoming location at Camp North End’s Boileryard District in mid-September. The local smoothie bar joins fellow tenants Gravity Sourdough Pizza and Tipsy Pickle moving in this fall. Plus, we can’t forget a new residential complex with 300+ apartments opening on site in October.
As we look to this exciting future growth at Camp North End, let’s look at how we got here.
“It’s a 20-year project,” said Varian Shrum, Community Manager of Camp North End who guided City Editors Jack and Maria on a tour through one of Charlotte’s ongoing success stories. Queen City residents may be familiar with hubs like Park Road Shopping Center or The Bowl at Ballantyne, however Camp North End boasts an identity all its own. “It’s so hard to do 76 acres at once. It evolves over time.”
Rich in history
Time has been an ally for this 76 acres of land north of Uptown. The site hosted a Ford Motor Company factory in 1924. During World War II, the US Army built another five warehouses to serve as a Quartermaster Depot, supplying soldiers at basic training camps throughout the southeast. In the 1950s, the site returned to its industrial roots and moved into missile development.
Fun fact: The US Army referred to the site as CAMP, short for Charlotte Area Missile Plant, which is what inspired the name used today.
A new era
ATCO Properties purchased the site in 2016 from Rite Aid pharmaceuticals and opened it to the public for the first time in 2017 as Camp North End. In less than a decade, Camp has transformed into a mixed-use business park with office and retail space. Space to work, a spot to grab lunch, a store to shop, or a chair to grab a drink — Camp has it all.
“The project aims to create a vibrant destination where people from across Charlotte can feel represented and experience the city’s diverse culture,” said Shrum.
The Tipsy Pickle is a 35,000-sqft space set to open in Charlotte’s Camp North End at 201 Camp Rd., Ste. 107 this fall.
Photo via @tipsypickleclt
Hip Hop Smoothies plans to open in Camp North End’s Boileryard District in mid-September.
Photo by Alexander Barrymore
Gravity Pizza will offer an assortment of sourdough pizza options at its upcoming Camp North End location at 1824 Statesville Ave., Ste. 100.
Photo via @gravitypizzaclt
What lies ahead
“The development is being rolled out in phases to allow flexibility in responding to market dynamics, prioritizing residential units during the COVID-19 when the office market cooled off,” said Tommy Mann, development director for Camp North End and the vice president of development for ATCO. The phased approach enables the team to learn and improve with each phase, incorporating intentional design elements like native landscaping for sustainability.
Fun fact: All the plants around Camp North End’s property are native to North Carolina.
Raising the bar
The Camp team aims to continue expanding this multifaceted hub.
The historic buildings like the Ford Building will be reused as office and retail spaces while maintaining their industrial character. One 100,000-sqft building could be leased to a single tenant or divided into smaller spaces as needed.
Editor’s note: The site has a higher parking ratio than Uptown to accommodate office tenants.
Never visited Camp? First time visitors should check out the weekly events that capture the spirit of the Queen City. Varian Shrum explained further, “the team has been intentional about activating the space with events like music nights, movie nights, markets, and festivals to bring the community together and foster a sense of belonging.”
